King Jemison: The Penguins are one of the worst teams in the NHL, and it doesn't look fixable

King Jemison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Nov 6, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — A sullen Penguins locker room Thursday night confronted the reality that the season is already slipping away.

“Consistency is not there at all, and it’s not one game we’re talking about,” Kris Letang said. “We’re on for 20 [minutes], we’re off for 20. And you cannot win games consistently in this league if you’re doing that.”

They haven’t.

The Boston Bruins embarrassed them at home Thursday. After their fourth straight loss, the Penguins are 5-9-2, with just two regulation wins. Their 12 points have them tied for last in the Eastern Conference, miles from the playoff picture.

The Penguins are one of the worst teams in the NHL and grasping for answers on how to fix it. The main theme that emerged Thursday was the old “back to basics” talk.

“When you’re struggling, you just gotta simplify it. Whether it’s little things, habits, winning wall battles. You’re not going to fix everything overnight,” Sidney Crosby said. “When it comes to the details of the game, they just haven’t been there consistently, and we’re playing catch-up because of it.”

It’s one thing to be bad. It’s another to be bad with an aging roster and few surefire young pieces ready to lead the next wave. That’s where the Penguins are, and it’s bleak.

Of course, they’re less than 20% of the way through the 2026-27 season as they fly west for a three-game California road trip. There’s time to turn it around. And some of their biggest issues have been self-inflicted.

“The big one for me is the stuff that’s totally preventable and just making sure that the structure is there,” coach Dan Muse said. “But then also, just the defensive positioning, the box-outs, the getting sticks. The number of breakaways that we gave up [Thursday], we can’t expect our goalies to come up with those saves.”

Erik Karlsson could have avoided gift-wrapping the Bruins a goal with an inexplicable turnover. The Penguins could have avoided giving up a Morgan Geekie breakaway because they bungled a line change. They could have avoided cheating toward offense and allowing frequent odd-man rushes.

“It’s those moments where maybe it could go our way — maybe — that we hope and we edge all on the offensive side,” Muse said. “And when that happens, if it doesn’t go our way in terms of recovering a puck, now there’s a lot of room and there’s a lot of space.”

But many of the Penguins’ problems are far less correctable.

They are frighteningly easy to play against. The Penguins rank last in the league in hits by a wide margin. They are one of the smallest teams in the NHL, yet they also don’t have enough speed. The Bruins flew past them for three rush goals.

That raises the obvious question: If the Penguins aren’t going anywhere this season, and they look this lifeless, why do they have NHL-ready prospects sitting in Wilkes-Barre?

Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes and Harrison Brunicke aren’t going to save the team if and when they are called up. None of them look like NHL stars. But they can at least inject some energy into the lineup. The Penguins can afford to let them play through mistakes and figure it out in real time.

Jake Livanavage, Tristan Broz, Owen Pickering and Bill Zonnon should probably each get a shot at some point, too. They won’t be making the team worse.

Livanavage, called up earlier this week, was sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday. He didn’t play an NHL game.

Giving a prospect an opportunity they’re not ready for risks crushing their confidence. If that’s why certain players don’t get called up, it’s understandable. But if the front office isn’t bringing up young guys because they still think they can compete this season, Thursday’s loss should be all the evidence they need to let go of that illusion.

The Penguins are who their record says they are. Yes, the old guys can occasionally wind back the clock and lead an offensive explosion. Yes, they can play disciplined defense once in a blue moon.

But it’s an 84-game season. Even the worst teams win a few games. The myriad ways the Penguins have lost recently — starting terribly, blowing late leads, squandering power plays, bleeding high-danger chances — show they have so many problems to fix, and that all can’t happen overnight.

Last season was the true swan song for the Big Three and Karlsson. Now, everything must be about the future. The Penguins have waited long enough.